Investigate The Editorship

Investigate
Magazine is one of those absolute gems - a self-styled
home for true hard-hitting investigative journalism, a
bastion for the truth, and, incongruously, the home of very
conservative Christian values.

Editor Ian Wishart is well
known for his investigative journalism and best-selling
books looking into solid public-interest topics like the
machinations around the sale of the BNZ.

Of late though
he has become better known for his conviction in his
Christian beliefs, expounded through his radio shows on
Radio Rhema and Newstalk ZB. And also of course through
Investigate Magazine.

This magazine is always worth a
look for the shock value alone. All manner of otherwise
contradictory values sit alongside each other, as with that
other prominent Christian values proponent - United Future.

In the same way that United Future manage to be the
Hunting Fishing Shooting Gambling Smoking and Drinking
Christian Party, in this same all over the place manner
Investigate Magazine manages to combine; hard hitting
investigations into serious material like organized crime in
New Zealand, Prime Ministerial character assassinations,
bible lessons about everything from personal morality to the
reality or otherwise of Noah's flood, discussions on, in
fact almost a preoccupation with, intelligent design as a
theory over Evolution or Darwinism, Business stories,
conspiracy theories and, in the kitchen sink capacity, film
and DVD reviews.

Wow, a bit all over the place.

Investigate really hit the headlines with their Nov
03 Helen Clark is a Lesbian Issue. The story combined
very amateur Freudian analysis with a bunch of bare-faced
and unsubstantiated 'secret friend' claims that our Helen
was, aside from legislating the downfall of western society,
engineering a secret homosexualising of the public service
and country as a way of getting back at New Zealand for her
having to bury her true sexuality.

No really. That was
the story.

In an interview on bfm with Noelle McCarthy
about the article Wishart pronounced that he knew the PM was
gay. How? He just knew. Investigative journalism at its
best.

The evidence amounted to something like look at her
mates, check out her haircut, she didn't even want to get
married and her fondness for wearing trousers - or some
other list of similarly flimsy arguments, but the media
splash was created.

Helen had the magnamanity not to sue
them, though I'm not sure her doing so would have served to
discredit them more than a cursory glance over their
publication would.

The religious right sits very
uncomfortably in easy going NZ, yet still they bang away at
it. Investigate Magazine is a conspiracy theorist theologian
mag. Kind of aliens stole Elvis because he was against
abortion and man those homosexuals are ruining society.

Other notable stories have included a detailed look at
why the moonlanding never happened, which to be fair left
the jury out, campaigns against the Civil Unions bill and
the Decriminalisation of Prostitution and the continued
advocacy of Intelligent Design, which is kind of like
Creationism in drag.

Well, what else to say about an
Investigative Magazine that quotes the Old Testament to
explain truths to readers? Buy it, I guess is all I can say.
it is the most unintentionally entertaining read around.

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